Steve, I had a similar awakening; everything in the garden was going to be lovely then I suddenly realised that it was to be forever under the thumb of a bunch of narcissist tyrant princes.That completely destroyed the dream for me.
Half banana
JoinedPosts by Half banana
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"I cant wait to meet Abraham!"
by stuckinarut2 in"i can't wait to meet abraham" was the eager comment made by a young 7 year old witness girl.. when asked why, she said "because he was jehovahs friend, and he was even willing to kill his own son!".
this comment was said with joy and excitement!
she can't see the obvious issues with this?.
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Half banana
Captain Schmideo, these celebs are not worth it, give me a bunch of lepers anyday. -
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Questions about the Flood for Brother Jeramy
by cappytan inhow long did the flood last?how long can land vegetation survive submerged in seawater?how long can freshwater fish survive in saltwater?how old is human civilization?
what is the oldest settlement in south america?
how did those people get there from the middle east after the flood wiped out everything on the earth?.
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Half banana
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Kingdom Hall Money Grab Was for Child Abuse Its Completely Clear
by thedepressedsoul inif youve followed the news lately there are more and more child abuse cases popping up.
one lawyer said he has over 28 cases in the pipeline that are going to be coming out soon.
on december 1 st a new one just popped up.
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Half banana
Yes Fink, they are still very rich but hungrier than ever. Also overly optimistic not recognising that they are now no longer as popular as they once were.
Apart from having been badly burned in an investment crash a while back, it seems from the UK accounts at least, that they manage money quite prudently and make a very good amount of interest from their current investments, at something like 5%.
There is a general idea that the poor foot soldiers in the theocratic army would shun the very notion of playing the stock market on spiritual grounds...even if they had the money. Not so the swanky GB whose money handlers meet annually in the UK with the biggest and best in the financial world with their vast income and be courted by the best brokers in the business.
But of course the GB are self appointed demi-gods now and they do what they want.
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"I cant wait to meet Abraham!"
by stuckinarut2 in"i can't wait to meet abraham" was the eager comment made by a young 7 year old witness girl.. when asked why, she said "because he was jehovahs friend, and he was even willing to kill his own son!".
this comment was said with joy and excitement!
she can't see the obvious issues with this?.
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Half banana
It’s just as well most people have advanced socially and mentally since this Bronze Age Bible nonsense. It is chilling to hear a seven year old stuck in this appalling mindset and going through life believing this was a good move. What a dreadful standard of morality the Bible teaches...no wonder there are so many sad and deranged JWs in the world.
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Young baptism a double standard with marriage?
by thedepressedsoul ini remember tons of young ones getting counseled for being too young to date and for marriage.
the elders said, "marriage is the 2nd biggest dedication of your life (baptism being 1st), at 20 you still don't know who you are or what you want.
you can't possibly make a decision like that, that young!
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Half banana
The Watchtower Organisation encouraging young or even young teen JW children to get baptised should be recognised for what it is: "abuse". -
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Impossible conversation: Jesus and Nicodemus: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
by Terry ini am a member on new testament scholar bart ehrman's blog, and the professor is currently outlining a new book he is writing about false memory and the life of jesus.. an interesting post occurred today in which he gives an example of a very famous scripture,.
example of a false memory of jesus teaching i turn to a famous passage in the gospel of john, jesus dialogue with nicodemus (john 3:1-15).
nicodemus is said to be a jewish leader who comes up to jesus and affirms that jesus must come from god because of the great things that he said to have done.
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Half banana
The very fact that the Greek pun of “born from above” and simultaneously “born again” is included in the Received Text indicates the source material being Greek and not Aramaic which as said indicates it could not be not verbatim or an historically truthful conversation.
It also demonstrates the very good chance of early Christian writings being altered at will to conform to higher literary taste and for greater religious impact. Hand written text was ever susceptible to corrupt transmission. Compound this with the impossibility of the words being actually remembered by anyone (let alone false memories) shows that like most of the so called sacred scriptures, they are essentially a literary work, mainly fiction, drawing on older folk tales written by educated scribes in the employ of religious leaders or by those cult leaders themselves.
Thank you for your input Terry.
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Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses
by Brother Jeramy inallow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.
i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.
some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).
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Half banana
Bro J, I understand your accommodation of conflicts by existing under the Watchtower roof but agreeing to disagree with their authoritarian culture and errors. This tension, as you put it, must nevertheless make your life difficult yet for the moment you are prepared to carry this burden.
To an outsider, there is another, what shall I say... incongruity... that you identify with the Watchtower “family” but not what we might call the ‘paternity’ of that family. Again for the moment you are reconciled to this oddity.
As we grow mentally which happens all the way through our lives, as time goes on we are able to see things more clearly, as we mature and have more experience of being alive, we are exposed to more information, more stimuli and more ideas. Unless that is, one is stuck inside a cult which deliberately curbs the information its followers receive and demands a narrow conservative view of life to be seen only through the viewfinder of Watchtower dogma. The family you refer to are in this latter camp, whether they support the HQ or just enjoy the social JW company with its requirements of going through the motions.
I understand your desire for good but the basis for your religion is nevertheless faulty Watchtower fundamentalism.
My thought may sound crude but since most of us have been there including me; we were infantilised by this cult and to remain there is to remain stunted in our natural growth. To be a mature human is to experience the pleasure and satisfaction of self determination and to be beholden to none other than ourselves and our closest loved ones. The Watchtower Society deprives all its flock of this birthright.
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Kingdom Hall Money Grab Was for Child Abuse Its Completely Clear
by thedepressedsoul inif youve followed the news lately there are more and more child abuse cases popping up.
one lawyer said he has over 28 cases in the pipeline that are going to be coming out soon.
on december 1 st a new one just popped up.
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Half banana
The Watchtower is a scam by any name yet poses as an innocent Bible based, end-of-the-world-preaching and Holy Roller religion.
They are acutely aware of financial trouble looming ahead... and financial trouble is the only one which counts. No money equals no prestige for the leadership.
The demeaning and desperate begging for funds and heartless money grabbing is without precedent and gives ample evidence that they are well and truly rattled. Big J is not helping them!
There has always been a Freudian streak in their declarations whereby they have shifted their financial concerns into the religious frame, as you mentioned Stuckinarut, the “unusual demands” etc must be met. Having then set the idea up, we can imagine this to increase as they get bemired with more problems, paedophilia settlements and taxation et al. They clearly have seen the writing on the wall or more specifically; the alarming accountant’s annual reports to their bank. So the financial anxieties of the WTBTS are translated into 'satanic persecution'. This is presented to the dumb faithful as fulfilment of prophecy (which they never once have got right). And the sheep will bleat but still follow...
Building on your thought Username, the cynic in me thinks that the GB, (who see themselves as the only “true” anointed!) will bugger off with the remaining cash before the total collapse of the organisation, indeed possibly to South America. Is this what they cryptically mean by the rapture?
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Types and anti types
by Deltawave inaccording the watchtower study of may 10th, it has been made clear no prophetic meaning should be given to a a scripture or passage unless the bible itself gives clear interpretation of it.
therefore daniel 7 especially gives it's fulfillment to nebuchadnezzar only.
no future kingdom or 2520year wait til 1914. no gentile times or "this generation".
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Half banana
I find it heartening to hear the WTBTS in their round-about way admitting to having been wrong. Frankly what could they say? They have never got anything right in all one hundred and thirty six years of their Adventist existence. They can’t even apologise unconditionally.
Type and anti type is almost too intellectual for the desired breed of obedient zombie which the org now demands. In Russell’s day people understood biblical imagery as being prophetic. Back then for many, the Bible was the bread and butter of daily life, today it is mainly ignored.
Nevertheless the aim of the org is to continue to rake in the family inheritances and build their property portfolio to appear financially viable. After all there is no glory for the governing body members to be leading a bankrupt cult. So the first principle of the JWorg is money first and doctrine second.
I genuinely think that ex-JW (apostate) argument is filtering in to the governance of the WTBTS. They hear the criticisms from the disgruntled flock and the departees. Type and anti-type has had its day. They are equating simplicity with “true worship”. They like the sound of this, it is a new selling point in cult theology but by overturning their historical doctrines they ignore that they have nothing which they can point to which could show the leadership as being appointed specially by God. Why listen to them, they are just another crazy doomsday cult?